Succulents

Stonecrop Family - Crassulaceae

Mossy Stonecrop Crassula tillaea

Native from Macaronesia and western Europe, through the Mediterranean Region to the Arabian Peninsula.


Habit	Habit	Habit	Leaves

Flowers and fruits	Seedling leaves

Laconia Stonecrop Sedum laconicum

Native to the eastern Mediterranean Region. Flowers yellow.


Habit	Leaves

Coastal Stonecrop Sedum litoreum

Native to the central and eastern Mediterranean Region. Variable according to growing conditions.


Habit	Flowers	Flower	Leaves

Habit	Habit	Habit	Flower

Common Navelwort Umbilicus rupestris

Native from Macaronesia and western Europe through the Mediterranean Region to the Arabian Peninsula. Flowers in a dense, single spike, carried slightly drooping.


Habit	Flowers	Leaves	Leaf

Horizontal Navelwort Umbilicus horizontalis

Native from Macaronesia through the Mediterranean Region to the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Flowers in a dense, single spike, carried horizontally.


Habit	Flower spike	Leaf

Green Navelwort Umbilicus chloranthus

Native to the Balkan Peninsula and western Turkey. Flowers in a panicle, with the flowers in small, branched clusters on a central spike.


Habit	Habit	Lower flower spike	Upper flower spike

Leaves

Ice-plant Family - Aizoaceae

Hottentot-fig Carpobrotus edulis

Native to South Africa but widely introduced elsewhere as a garden ornamental and often becoming a problematic invasive. Leaves up to 14cm long, more or less parallel-sided for much of their length and narrowing to a tapered point at the tip (though beware of leaves on short sideshoots which can be more curved). When seen in cross-section, the leaves are more or less equal in width and depth. Flowers 4.5-10cm across, creamy yellow or bright pink.


Habit	Flower	Flower	Fruit

Leaves	Leaves	Leaves	Leaf cross-section (lower leaf)

Sally-my-handsome Carpobrotus acinaciformis

Native to South Africa but widely introduced elsewhere as a garden ornamental and often becoming a problematic invasive. Leaves up to 10cm long, less parallel-sided and more curved than those of Hottentot-fig and more broadly curved towards the tip. When seen in cross-section, the leaves are deeper than wide. Flowers 7-10cm across, bright carmine pink.


Flowers	Flower	Leaves	Leaves

Leaf cross-section (upper leaf)

Heart-leaved Iceplant Mesembryanthemum cordifolium

Introduced to Europe and the Canary Islands from South Africa as a garden plant.


Habit	Habit	Flowers	Flower

Flower	Flower	Leaves	Leaf

Cactus Family - Cactaceae

Common Prickly-pear Opuntia ficus-indica

Native to Mexico but widely introduced throughout warmer parts of the world and a serious invasive alien in many places. Flowers usually yellow but occasionally orange.


Habit	Habit	Stems	Stems

Flowers	Fruits	Fruit

Amaranth Family - Amaranthaceae

Perennial Glasswort Salicornia perennis

(Arthrocnemum perenne, Sarcocornia perennis) Native to saltmarsh habitats throughout the Atlantic and Mediterranean coast of Europe as well as southern Africa and both North and South America. This species forms solid mats of green stems (often becoming reddish or orange-brown), arising from creeping, woody bases. Seeds covered with curved or hooked hairs.


Habit	Habit	Non-flowering stem	Stem close-up

Shrubby Glasswort Salicornia fruticosa

(Arthrocnemum fruticosum, Sarcocornia fruticosa) Native to saltmarsh habitats from the Canary Islands, through the Mediterranean Region to the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Information on how to tell this species from Glaucous Glasswort is incomplete and poorly explained in most literatures. According to Flora Europaea, Shrubby Glasswort (along with Perennial Glasswort) should have flowers of each cyme falling to leave a tripartite hollow in the stem segment; seeds greenish-brown to greyish; testa thin, membranous, covered with short conical or curved hairs. Shrubby Glasswort is further told from Perennial Glasswort by its lack of creeping, subterranean stems, glaucous colour and seeds covered with more or less conical hairs.


Habit	Habit	Stems	Stems

Stems	Stems	Flowers	Flowers

Glaucous Glasswort Arthrocaulon macrostachyum

(Arthrocnemum macrostachyum, Salicornia macrostachya) Native to saltmarsh habitats from the Canary Islands, through the Mediterranean Region to the Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan and tropical Africa. Information on how to tell this species from Shrubby Glasswort is incomplete and poorly explained in most literatures. According to Flora Europaea, Glaucous Glasswort should have flowers of each cyme falling to leave an undivided hollow in the stem segment; seeds black; testa hard, tuberculate. Stems glaucous, becoming yellowish or reddish.